NEW DELHI: Three new judges of the Supreme Court will take oath on Tuesday and one of them, Justice J S Khehar, will go on to become the first Sikh Chief Justice of India in the year 2017.
President Pratibha Patil has signed the warrant of appointment for Justice Khehar, chief justice of Karnataka, Justice Ranjana Desai of the Bombay High Court and Gujarat chief justice S J Mukhopadhyay.
Justice Khehar will become the Chief Justice of India on January 4, 2017, on the retirement of Justice T S Thakur, who is expected to take the reins of the top judge's post in September 2014.
Justice Desai, who was part of the Bombay High Court decision to uphold death penalty to 26/11 terror attack convict Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, will become the fifth woman judge of the Supreme Court after Justices Fathima Beevi, Sujata Manohar, Ruma Pal and Gyan Sudha Misra.
Though the apex court got its first woman Judge in 1989, this will be the first time that there will be two sitting women judges in Justices Misra and Desai.
Gujarat chief justice S J Mukhopadhyay, who unwittingly figured in the tussle between governor Kamla Beniwal and chief minister Narendra Modi on the Lokayukta appointment, will take oath after Justices Khehar and Desai.
The SC has a sanctioned strength of 31 judges including the CJI. At present, it is functioning with a strength of 26 judges and four more are scheduled to retire by October 15. So, even after these three appointments, there would still be six vacancies.
The vacancies of judges in the high courts has been a cause for serious concern as pendency of cases are increasing steadily. Of the total sanctioned strength of 895 judges in 21 HCs, almost 30% of the posts are vacant, as per the statistics given by SC till February this year.
Allahabad High Court is the worst affected. Of a total sanctioned strength of 160, more than half the posts are vacant. It is followed by the Punjab and Haryana HC where of the 68 posts of judges, 26 are lying vacant.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-may-get-1st-Sikh-CJI-in-2017/articleshow/9939456.cms
President Pratibha Patil has signed the warrant of appointment for Justice Khehar, chief justice of Karnataka, Justice Ranjana Desai of the Bombay High Court and Gujarat chief justice S J Mukhopadhyay.
Justice Khehar will become the Chief Justice of India on January 4, 2017, on the retirement of Justice T S Thakur, who is expected to take the reins of the top judge's post in September 2014.
Justice Desai, who was part of the Bombay High Court decision to uphold death penalty to 26/11 terror attack convict Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, will become the fifth woman judge of the Supreme Court after Justices Fathima Beevi, Sujata Manohar, Ruma Pal and Gyan Sudha Misra.
Though the apex court got its first woman Judge in 1989, this will be the first time that there will be two sitting women judges in Justices Misra and Desai.
Gujarat chief justice S J Mukhopadhyay, who unwittingly figured in the tussle between governor Kamla Beniwal and chief minister Narendra Modi on the Lokayukta appointment, will take oath after Justices Khehar and Desai.
The SC has a sanctioned strength of 31 judges including the CJI. At present, it is functioning with a strength of 26 judges and four more are scheduled to retire by October 15. So, even after these three appointments, there would still be six vacancies.
The vacancies of judges in the high courts has been a cause for serious concern as pendency of cases are increasing steadily. Of the total sanctioned strength of 895 judges in 21 HCs, almost 30% of the posts are vacant, as per the statistics given by SC till February this year.
Allahabad High Court is the worst affected. Of a total sanctioned strength of 160, more than half the posts are vacant. It is followed by the Punjab and Haryana HC where of the 68 posts of judges, 26 are lying vacant.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-may-get-1st-Sikh-CJI-in-2017/articleshow/9939456.cms
